The fans used in installations for heating and ventilating or for air conditioning motor vehicles comprise a bladed wheel fixed on the shaft of an electric motor and housed in a volute (i.e. an air flow casing) of a housing which also houses and supports the electric motor. The portion of the housing which receives the electric motor includes means for positioning and centering the motor, which means cooperate with the motor cage or frame. The motor is fixed or retained in the housing by screws engaged in holes through a bottom wall of the housing, with the screws being screwed into captive nuts held by the motor cage or frame.
Such motor fixing means suffer from several drawbacks: firstly they require specific action to be taken when the motor is mounted in the housing, secondly the fixing screws transmit noise to the outside of the housing, and thirdly the fixing screws apply forces to the motor cage. Since the motor cage is generally made of plastic, it is deformed in the long run, to a greater or lesser extent, thereby interfering with correct operation of the motor.
Preferred implementations of the invention avoid these prior art drawbacks and simplify the operations of mounting and fixing an electric motor in a housing.